In the 1970s, almost 2/3 of Americans attended some sort of club meeting. By the late 1990s, the figure was 1/3 of Americans. The average American invested about 1/3 less time in organizational life between 1965 to 1995. Even the number of picnics went down 60 percent from 1975-1999. According to a recent Senate report on civic health, between 1974 and 2016, the percent of adults who said they spend a social evening with a neighbor at least several times a week fell from 30 percent to 19 percent. The report concludes, “The connective tissue that facilitates cooperation has eroded, leaving us less equipped to solve problems together within our communities.”

At PUGS, we talk about being half learning and half community. And while we know we do learning well, and each of our classes coalesce as self-contained communities, we're really interested in how we can stitch our broader learning community together more intentionally. That's why, starting in September, we're initiating what we're calling PUGSCommunity Dinners. It's a chance for you to meet other people in Portland in the most ancient form of community: having fun by eating together. This is how it will work: a PUGGER will agree to host dinner at their house for 8-10 people. There might be a dialogue question to tie the evening together. That's it! That's the whole plan. It'll be loosey-goosey and fun.

We need people to volunteer to host and we'll need people to volunteer to eat. Hosts will provide the space and cook the dinner. In return, they will get a free PUGS course. Guests come with empty stomachs and contribute to the PUGS Scholarship Fund which fuels our Radical Pricing Policy. Willing to join us? Fill out this form!